Chapter 3:  Trouble at Oak's Place (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

We soon arrived in Pallet Town.  
Leaving the boat, I carried my Staryu out, desperately seeking a Pokémon 
Centre.  
It was smaller than most other towns, a few houses here and there and a large 
house on the hill, but no Pokémon Centre.  
“Sttaaarrr...”  
“Twinkill, don’t try to move...  You got cut up pretty bad back there.”  
Twinkill leaped out of my hands and spun around, a flash of light later and one 
of the previously cut off points regenerated.  
“Of course, the Pokédex was right about Staryus.”  
But then Twinkill flopped to the floor.  
“That’s enough Twinkill, you need some rest!...”  
I heard a “Mime, Mime, MIME!” from behind me.  
A woman was walking down the street with a Mr Mime carrying the shopping.  
She had long auburn hair in a ponytail and wore a pink top and blue skirt.  
She noticed me, then my Staryu, and quickly hurried towards me.  
“Oh my, your Pokémon is in bad shape.”  
“Could you direct me to the Pokémon Centre please?” I asked meekly.  
“I’m afraid there are no Pokémon Centres in Pallet, but if you’d like to rest 
at my place...”  
“Are you sure miss? I don’t want to be a bother...”  
“Its no bother.” she replied.  

Later, my Pokémon rested in an unused room full of Pokémon related goods and 
posters.  
“Thanks for the dinner Mrs Ketchum, you really didn’t have to go through all 
the trouble.” I said to the woman.  
“It’s no problem, Tetsubo, I like cooking for guests, I’ve had so few since my 
son left on another Pokémon Journey, I guess you reminded me a little of him.  
Cos he had a lot of trouble when he first started as a trainer.”  
I didn’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed at this comment.  
“I didn’t mean for them to get into this shape.  It was all because of-”  
I was interrupted by a moderately old man’s voice calling from the front door.  
“Delia?...  Hellooo!...  Mrs Ketchum?...”  
“Excuse me Tetsubo.” said Mrs Ketchum politely walking to the door, she 
returned with a familiar face.  
A man in a lab coat with straight grey hair.  
It was the world famous Professor Oak, one of the greatest researchers in 
Pokémon history.  
“I just came to return that hammer you lent me, those Tauros have been acting 
up again.  Hello?...  Who is this?”  
“His name is Tetsubo, he’s another Pokémon Trainer, he was a little lost and 
his Pokémon were quite hurt and needed rest.” Mrs Ketchum answered for me.  
“You’re... Professor Oak...”  I said slowly.  
“Yes, I know that sonny boy, might I ask who gave you that Pokédex?”  
It was hanging out my pocket.  
“I, er, Professor Blossom gave it to me.”  
“Ah, Blossom, its been some time since I last saw her.”  
“You know Blossom?”  
“Of course, she was one of my best students years ago, I heard she made it as a 
Pokémon researcher.  Now why don’t you bring your Pokémon to my lab? If they’re 
hurt, my lab shall have better facilities to heal them right up.”  
I went into the other room and recalled Scramble and Dusty, and carried 
Twinkill out.  
“Thank you Mrs Ketchum, if there’s anything I can do to repay you.”  
“Oh don’t worry, you don’t have to repay me at all.”  

I climbed up the rocky pathway leading to the labs, I had passed right by it 
earlier.  
So that was where Oak lived, it didn’t stand out too much, maybe to hide away 
from reporters and all.  
“I suggest you give me those Pokéballs, as for the Staryu, put in on that table 
over there.”  
He put my Pokéballs into a machine with sphere indentations on it, a glowing 
light hummed slowly, regenerating my Pokémon.  
Oak removed the bandages from Twinkill and examined it.  
“Hmmmm, it looks like your Staryu will be fine, mainly because you took care of 
it so well, how did this happen.”  
“I was on a ferry and I tried to save the passengers from an Elite Rocket 
and-”  
“Team Rocket? I’ve heard about them but have only seen two less than successful 
members, well I suppose that criminal organisation must have a few successful 
members somewhere.”  
“It was horrible, he broke all the League Rules and sent two Pokémon out, it 
wasn’t a match, it was an execution.  He nearly killed Twinkill.”  
“Twinkill? Oh of course, you nicknamed it.” said Oak treating the wounds.  
“You know, Blossom is very picky about who she sponsors, you must be very 
special.”  
“Five years at Pokémon Tech, sir, but Pokémon Training is still as hard as 
ever, all the same.”  
“Don’t worry about it, you should know that of all the trainers I’ve met, the 
ones with compassion for their Pokémon go further than the rest.  Ever since my 
grandson lost in the Kanto League, he matured and started treating his Pokémon 
with a little more respect and care, now I think he will go far.  You also 
show potential.  Well that's about it, recall it.”  
I did and handed the ball to Oak, he removed the first two Pokéballs, and 
placed Twinkill inside.  
“It’ll take some time to heal your Staryu, why don’t you help me outside until 
its finished, I’ll show you something.”  
He gave me my two Pokéballs back.  
I decided to release them, to check on them and let them see this place.  
“Exegg!”  
“Venonat! Venonat!”  
“Come on guys, lets give you some time to move around.” I said chasing after 
Oak with my Pokémon close behind.  

He opened the door and there was a glorious sight, fields as far as I could 
see, full of Pokémon.  
“Here is where I look after the trainers’ Pokémon, its wide and open so the 
Pokémon can have their freedom until they are needed by their trainers...”  
I stared, looking at all the Pokémon.  
There to the left was a Poliwhirl leaping in the water happily, right, a 
Kingler waving its arms around, and in the centre were a herd of Tauros, 
running in a group.  
“What do you think?”  
“Its, its really great, you must have a lot of trainers that rely on you.” I 
replied nervously.  
“Thank you Tetsubo, I- Agh!”  
A purple slime pounced on Oak crushing him, “Muk! Muk!”  
“Dusty! Use your-”  
“Stop Tetsubo, its really all right, this Muk is just a little overfriendly, it 
always does that.”  
It was at such close range, that I recorded it on the Pokédex.  

“Muk, the Sludge Pokémon.  Known for its disgusting smell, it is so full of 
poison that even its footprints contain toxic matter.”  

“I always thought Grimers and Muks were dangerous but this one is as lovable as 
a puppy.”  
With that the Muk leapt on me, trying to hug me but accidentally pushing me to 
the floor.  
The smell was bearable, usually Muks stunk of everything smelly but it looked 
like Oak had done something about it.  
“Okay Muk, that's enough, you can stop now.” I called out pleasantly.  
“That Muk belongs to Mrs Ketchum’s son, but its been here so long, it became 
quite lovable towards anyone.”  
I thought for a moment, the name Ketchum suddenly seemed familiar, perhaps from 
the coverage of the last Kanto League...  
At Pokémon Tech, lessons were cancelled during Pokémon Leagues so that everyone 
could watch it on TV and learn from it.  
I remembered  a strange match where a beautiful girl had trained a very agile 
Bellsprout which beat all its opponents apart from a Muk which having the type 
advantage, suffocated it in poison.  
This had to be the same Muk.  

Later, Oak showed me around the whole place and explained how he worked, it was 
a busy lifestyle, letting them all out, feeding all the Pokémon then doing it 
again for lunch, research, then putting them back in their Pokéballs.  
He really needed an assistant.  
“You must be very busy Professor Oak.”  
“Oh yes, but its very rewarding.  I have devoted my life to the study of 
Pokémon as you can see.”  
There was an explosion in front of us.  
As we hurried out into the area, a huge shadow appeared over us, a large blimp 
was hovering over the field.  
A figure leaped out and landed nicely on the floor.  
“Ha ha ha ha!”  
I saw the R on her green hat, similar to an air hostess’s, her uniform was both 
casual and formal, she wore a short black skirt and high heels.  
She also had beautiful flame red hair which fell to the sides, and a fringe 
that covered up her forehead.  
“A Rocket!”  
“Elite Rocket to you!” she said, “My name is Cassie and whether you like it or 
not kid, old man, I’ll be taking these Pokémon for the Boss!”  
“You’ll do no such thing!” Oak shouted.  
There was another explosion, but even Cassie was surprised, the Tauros from 
earlier had broken free and were charging towards Cassie, trying to help us.  
She leapt up and hung from a rope ladder drifting out the blimp.  
“Stupid Tauros, can’t Pokémon wait until their trainer tells them what to 
do?!”  
From up above, long tubes swarmed everywhere and began to suck.  
“Professor! That machine’s gonna suck up all your Pokémon, you have to do 
something!”  
“I plan to, Tetsubo, Muk! Go get her!”  
“Muk! Muk!”  
“This Muk has been in my care for so long, it instinctively listens to me.” Oak 
explained to me.  
It leapt up and overwhelmed Cassie.  
“Aaagghhh! Get this thing off me! Whaddaya tryin' to do?! Hug me or suffocate 
me?!”  
“Veennoo!”  
I leapt forward and stopped my Venonat from being pulled in while Oak helped 
Scramble.  
“We need a powerful attack to stop those tubes!” I shouted to Oak through the 
strong winds.  
“I have just the one, Kingler! Over here!”  
“Ko Ke Ko Ke!” said the Kingler with a strange voice, crawling sideways towards 
Oak.  

“Kingler, the Pincer Pokémon.  It has massive claws with the strength of 
10, 000-Horsepower, however the huge size makes them unwieldy to use.“  

“Kingler, help us out with a Hyper Beam.”  
“Ko Ke KO KE!” shouted Kingler, a bright yellow sphere forming between its 
right claw, a large beam fired surrounding the blimp in a bright light and 
exploding it.  
“Aaaggghhh!” screamed Cassie crashing down.  
“Shouldn’t you have blasted off by now?”  
I had no idea what Oak was talking about.  
“Blasted off?” questioned Cassie, “Oh, those rejects, well there’s no way I’m 
leaving without any of your Pokémon!”  

End of Chapter 3A  

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Chapter 3B
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